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New website highlights disparity in pay between NJ's CEOs and workers

April 15, 2014

Average NJ-based CEO paid 121 times more than average worker, 331 times more than those working minimum wage

TRENTON – A new website unveiled today highlights the growing disparity in executive pay in relation to that of regular workers, putting into numbers the stark reality that while the economy has rebounded for those at the top of the pay scale, those at the middle and below are falling back.

The new site, paywatch.org, is sponsored by the national AFL-CIO, and includes facts for all 50 states and breakdowns among industries, gender, and other demographics and geographic areas. In New Jersey, specifically, the latest data shows the average pay for executives at corporations based in-state – at $5,684,012 – outpaces the $46,825 earned by the average worker by 121 times. When compared to minimum wage earners, the CEO pay differential nearly triples, to 331 times.

“What these figures show is a recovery that is only rewarding the very rich at the expense of everyone else,” said Charles Wowkanech, president of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO. “The middle class is disappearing, and it’s because corporate profits are going into the hands of a very limited few, rather than rewarding the work force that actually created those profits.”

Nationally, CEO pay was 331 times that of the average worker, and 774 times that of one making the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

“We need to realize that workers, and not CEOs, are the real ‘job creators,’” said Wowkanech. “It’s the purchasing power of the middle class that creates new economic opportunity. Until we return to that ideal – that workers paid good, livable wages are the key to our economic future – we will continue to see working families struggling at the margins while the wealthiest keep getting more.”

“This should be a wake-up call that our economy is out of balance,” said Wowkanech. “We must restore economic power to those who actually make businesses run: workers.”